


You're Not As Lonely As You Think You Are

by MoonlitMusings



Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Buddy is the only other one with actual lines, Found Family, Gen, M/M, most of the characters besides juno are just mentioned/talked about, posting this for fluff week horrifically late but oh well
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 03:01:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15209414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoonlitMusings/pseuds/MoonlitMusings
Summary: A collection of the friends Juno has made over the years.





	You're Not As Lonely As You Think You Are

**Author's Note:**

> I'm super late getting this up, but frankly I'm just glad I finished it at all. The title may or may not come from the song Sweetie by Carley Rae Jepson.

Juno had heard the phrase “blood is thicker than water" plenty of times before, but it was Sasha who told him that the full saying was actually “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb.” He liked the phrase a lot better after that. Because he and Ben were close, but his mom was... well, 50/50 wasn’t a great ratio as far as family members you could stand being around. So, he picked his own. Mick, with his energy and his stories and his terrible ideas. Sasha, with her reason and her dry humor and her almost magical ability to turn Mick’s awful ideas into something reasonable. Between them and him and Ben, he thought he’d done alright for himself, all things considered. Found people who he liked being around that actually seemed to like being around him. People that appreciated his jokes (well, Sasha didn’t, usually, but that had turned into a joke itself) and who were more than happy to find trouble with him. People that understood when things were rough and he didn’t want to talk about it, who were willing to just sit there with him. People who he knew would back him up in a fight (even if Mick was an absolutely terrible fighter). And it was nice. It was nice to have friends like that. And when they got older, stopped talking as much, or at all, it was nice to remember that he could have friends like that, even if it was just for a little while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juno would be the first to admit that he and the Kanagawas made an odd set. They were glitz and glamour and he was... not. Though he was pretty sure they had taken a liking to him because of that. Cecil mostly just seemed to see him as a challenge: if he could glam up Juno Steel, he could do anything. He was never that close to Cecil. Cass, though, she seemed to like his rough edges. Seemed to relate to them. She wasn’t like the rest of her family, obsessed with the money and fame. In fact, she confided in him that she wanted out. Wanted to get away from it all and live her life the way she wanted, not the way the ratings and cameras dictated. He could feel her relief during those rare times they managed to sneak away from the cameras for half an hour to talk in private and try to drink their troubles away. Sure, she was loud, and a little unpredictable, and probably liked looking for fights a little too much, but then, so was he. She was good people, he decided. And if he could help her out, he was glad for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juno didn't quite know how it happened, really. Or why. The secretary was bright and bubbly and excitable and friendly, and all the things he wasn’t. Why she’d taken such a shine to him he didn't know. Maybe it was because he was one of the few people that respected her and recognized her talents. Because _damn_ was she talented. He was completely useless with computers, but she was magic on them. Any information you wanted, she could find. It’s what had kept him talking to her at first. And, well, he had to admit that for as grating as her endless enthusiasm could be, it was also kind of nice, sometimes, to have someone his moods didn’t seem to bring down. Or at least who thought he was worth trying to cheer up. And she always had his back, when he needed, which was nice too. He hadn’t really had that since he was a kid. She actually reminded him of Mick in a lot of ways, which he never would’ve considered a good thing before knowing her. The first time she called him a friend threw him off a little, but, well, he guessed they kind of were. More than kind of, really. It takes a special kind of person and a special kind of relationship to make a person quit her job because you got fired and help you create a new one almost from scratch. And it took a really special kind of person to stick with you at that job for a decade, even when you didn’t treat her as well as you should a lot of the time. Because he could be an ass, and he knew it, and he really, really hoped she knew how much he appreciated having her around.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juno tried not to get too emotionally invested in jobs, and too involved with the people who hired him, as a general rule. It made things messy. And that's what this was, right? A job. Granted, it was a _weird_ job, and a weird situation all-around, but still. Buddy had sought him out, and he'd performed a service for her in exchange for payment. Not traditional payment by any means, but payment. And sure, it was only reasonable for him to stick around for a few days to recover after the surgery, but that had been a week ago, and he was pretty much fine now. So why was he still here? And why did Buddy and Jacket and Vespa all seem so fine with him sticking around? Sure, now that he was on his feet and working out the change in depth perception he was starting to help out around the bar, but not enough to explain them keeping him around. He wasn’t complaining, mind you. Not by a long shot. They were good people, even if Jacket didn’t appreciate his jokes, and even if they were criminals. Gave him food and a place to sleep and helped nurse him back to health. He just didn't want to get too comfortable, was all. He had to leave at some point, and if it was gonna be sooner rather than later, he wanted to know. So, he decided to ask. He was helping Buddy clean up the dining room, and it just kinda slipped out.

“So... how long were you planning on letting me stay here?”

“Why? You wanna leave?”

“I... not really, I just... I dunno. I just don't see why you're letting me stick around so long when our deal’s done.”

“Letting you recover after the surgery is an important part of the surgery.”

“Yeah, but I was fine by day three.”

“And yet you stuck around.”

“I- well... yeah.”

“And if you’ve been fine for days, then if you wanted to leave, you would have left by now, right?”

“I guess... But why are you letting me stay?”

“Why wouldn't we?”

That caught Juno off-guard. He had always wondered why people kept him around. He never thought of questioning why someone wouldn’t. It was just what people did.

“Uh...” Buddy shook her head.

“Believe it or not, Juno, I kind of like having you around. You’re a decent person. Kind of a pain in the ass, sometimes, but a decent person. That can be hard to come by. And I’m more than happy to keep you around for as long as you want to stay and help out. And while I can’t speak for Vespa or my friend, I’m pretty sure they feel the same.”

“...Oh. I... thanks.”

It had been a while since Juno had found people he liked being around that also liked being around him. It was nice. Surprising, but nice. He would have to go fairly soon. He had things to take care of, after all. But maybe he could stick around for a bit longer. Just for the hell of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every once in a while, it hit Juno just how in love he was with Peter Nureyev. They could be sharing a meal, or sitting on the couch together, or walking, or at the office, or in the car, or anywhere, really. And they would start holding hands, or Peter would press a kiss to his cheek or the top of his head, or he would look and see Peter smiling at him, this sweet little smile that was warm and happy and so unlike anything Juno had seen from any of his aliases, or some other small thing, and it would make warmth bloom in Juno's chest and fill his whole body until he felt like he was about to burst with it. It scared him, at first. The depth and intensity of his feelings. Because caring that much about someone meant they were able to hurt you that much more. But over time, it got better. With every day they spent together, within every time Peter came back from one of his “business trips", Juno grew less afraid. Less afraid, and more willing to let himself enjoy those small moments. More willing to voice his feelings, too. And the way Peter lit up whenever he did... it was well worth any risk. If they could keep on being together, and he could keep making Peter smile like that... that was worth all of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Juno had never considered himself to have much of a family. His mother had been awful, and his brother had been great, but died so young. Once he was gone, and especially once he stopped talking to Mick and Sasha as much, Juno kind of figured the whole family thing just wasn't for him. And when he had tried to build one in the traditional way, well, it had ended poorly, to say the least. And yet... and yet without meaning to, without really trying, he found one for himself anyway. It was small, and kind of a mess - there was no denying they all had their problems - but it was good, for what it was. It was nice. It might not have been perfect, but it was what he needed, and that was plenty for him.


End file.
